Novel cryogenic firefighting and hazardous materials suppression system

Abstract

A cryogenic fire and hazardous materials suppression system is described for use by firefighting and hazardous material handling personnel in combating fires and hazardous materials spills. The cryogenic liquid fire and hazardous materials suppression system has at least one cryogenic liquid vessel for storing a cryogenic extinguishing agent that is one of a number of inert cryogenic liquids. The cryogenic extinguishing agent is dispersed through a removably attached cryogenic fluid supply conduit having two ends, said first end attached to the cryogenic liquid vessel, and a second end that is also removably mounted to a dispensing apparatus for controlling the flow of the cryogenic extinguishing agent toward a fire or hazardous material suppression target. The cryogenic fire and hazardous materials suppression system is used for delivering said cryogenic extinguishing agent to a target including fires and hazardous materials spills of all types that require heat or oxygen to burn including Class A, B, C, D, K, and pyrophoric material fires.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application is a Continuation-in-Part that claims priority from U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 11 / 157,039, filed on Jun. 20, 2005.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]This invention is directed to the art of controlling hazardous events, including fires, spills, and chemical releases.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]A conventional method of fighting or suppressing a fire or hazardous material spill is to dispatch fire department personnel to the scene. The fires and spills may occur in a variety of settings, including the wild lands, as well as in rural, residential, commercial, and industrial areas, thus giving rise to different types of fires that firefighters may face. These fires include Class A, B, C, D, and K as currently defined by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA 10, latest edition), such that Class A is ordinary wood and paper combustibles, Class B is flammable liquids of both the polar (alcohols, keto...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]In view of the aforementioned unmet needs in the art, a novel cryogenic firefighting and hazardous materials suppression system has been invented. This cryogenic system offers many benefits over the previously described methods of suppressing fire and hazardous material spills, including the ability to transport (by land, sea, or air) and dispense large volumes of an inert agent to suppress numerous types of fires a

Problems solved by technology

These fires usually require a substantial amount of time to extinguish, and therefore result in a significant portion of the burning structure being destroyed.

Additionally, the portion of the structure that survives the fire often has serious water damage.

Consequently, paper records, electronic equipment, including computers, and other sensitive components within these structures typically sustain significant water damage.

Moreover, climate and weather patterns may limit the use of water as the primary fire extinguishing substance.

This presents a practical challenge to prevent the water from freezing in the firefighting devices when battling fires in those regions.

The use of sea water may also pose an environmental threat, as the salt deposited may cause environmental damage.

Unfortunately, in many instances the power cannot be shutdown.

Shutting off the power from a major plant may plunge thousands or millions of people into darkness and cause billions of dollars of damage.

Power plants lose thousands of dollars in revenue for every minute spent “turned off”.

A minor fire may cause a few hundred dollars in physical damages to wire insulation, but the downtime may cost millions of dollars, especially if the water, foam, or dry powder extinguishers are used and damage the electrical equipment at a power station.

Class D fires are also a challenge to extinguish using traditional methods.

The current fire extinguishers for use on class D fires are messy, powdered chemicals such as sand and various oxides or salts.

These materials have limited applicability and poor extinguishing performance.

They are typically applied with a shovel and bucket, which is extremely slow and inefficient.

The use of a pressurized canister has been demonstrated, but its use tends to cause spreading of the fire, which is detrimental.

Additionally, many other methods of extinguishing such fires actually cause the fire to increase in severity and may actually cause explosions.

The use of these and certain other extinguishing agents have been banned due to their ability to cause explosions.

These pyrophoric chemicals are another type of hazardous material that canno

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